


Learning

by Shatterpath



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Female Friendship, Gen, POV Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-10-30
Updated: 2012-10-30
Packaged: 2017-11-17 08:40:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/549683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Shatterpath/pseuds/Shatterpath
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A little 'what if' for early season 2. Switches POVs in the middle.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Learning

**Author's Note:**

> I am one of the few that finds Aurora intriguing. So, here's my take on what could have happened in early Season 2's Enchanted Forest. Besides, it gave me a chance to work with a mess of big, formal words. What writer doesn't love that?

Phillip is gone.

 

Those brief hours with him are a lifeline I cling to in desperate effort to hold off the helpless rage I feel towards the strangers who brought death to him. It is scant comfort that they have lost as much as I, if their tale is to be believed.

 

My irrevocably changed world has left me feeling helpless. Everything and everyone I ever knew is gone, swept away by a curse I barely understand. My personal curse struck long before the larger was impressed upon us, leaving me ignorant even of watching it happen. Others have told me of the purple fog racing over hill and dale to swallow all in its path. The stranger with two names who wields the bow so well spoke of her front seat to its passage, there at the feet of the evil sorceress that beget the curse.

 

Despite her clear competence in some things, the flaxen-haired stranger seems even more lost than I. The incident with the ogre is proof of that.

 

I am still angered and humiliated from my failed attempt on the archer's life, how she tossed me aside as a sack of corn. It only illustrated how inadequately I am prepared for this new life and how dependent on Phillip's warrior companion I truly am.

 

Mulan is an enigma to me. Exotic, competent, prickly and doggedly determined to fulfill her oath to protect me, she is both my only small familiarity and a thorn in my side. That said, I have never been so glad for a vassal in my life.

 

No, not vassal. I have no idea of what she is, exactly.

 

Despite the relative safety and utter exhaustion of our current circumstances, I cannot sleep. The large glade is open, with a convenient central tree that we can rest beneath. Nothing can ambush us here.

 

"Hey."

 

Bone-weary, I raise my head and look at the woman that had offered me her strange garment in the cold darkness. "Yes?"

 

"Can't sleep, huh? Come keep me company for awhile."

 

The offer is unexpected. After all, did I not make an attempt on the life of her companion? "Thank you."

 

Mercurial eyes, as blue as the skies this day, regard me with unsettling clarity. "You're as out of your element as I am, aren't you?"

 

Not wanting to confess to my clear inadequacies, I hedge, "I believe that losing the entirety of one's very reality trumps my pampered upbringing."

 

The girlish laughter stings me for a moment, until I hear that there is no malice to the sound. "Well, pampered or not, you're clearly smart and adaptable. Tell you what. If you help me understand this place better, maybe I can help you not feel so helpless?"

 

"Why..." I am at a loss for words. "Why thank you..."

 

"Emma."

 

Yes, now that she has said the name, I remember it. For one raised as a princess, I have a terrible time with names. Shaking off my straying thoughts, I return my attention to my companion, who has climbed to her feet. For the first time there is no hesitance to interact with her and I willingly take the offered hand. Her physicality is the most blatant of we four and my weight is insignificant as she assists me to stand.

 

"Now, first thing, is we have to do something about the skirts. Let me have that wrap of yours."

 

Eying the garments that cover her as snugly as her own skin, I cannot help my trepidation, but nonetheless unwind my thin cover from head and torso. It is nary a surprise when she tears it somewhat violently, but her kneeling does take me aback. As does the touch of her hands on my legs.

 

"See, if we use the trailing edge of the skirts and this fabric, it will free up your movements."

 

"Indeed," I say quietly, completely unsettled by her complete disregard for my royal person. With efficient movements, Emma has hiked up my skirts to my knees and wrapped my lower legs in the rent fabric, trapping the skirts in a loose folds above my knees.

 

"There," she says, clearly satisfied, and stands once more. "That'll have to do until we can both get better clothes."

 

It takes a moment for the realization that we are both eying the other skeptically for the hilarity of the situation to settle in.

 

 

# # # #

 

Laughter jars me from sleep, and I fight off the momentary disorientation. There have been too many changes, to many memories and contradictions in my head. Mary Margaret fights with Snow in my skull, instincts driving to keep Emma and me both safe in contrast to the timid schoolteacher.

 

There she is, out in the sunshine with Aurora. They are just beyond the range of hearing, though I can almost make Emma's words as she speaks. Nodding seriously, the princess listens intently and I’m shocked to see my daughter mime a self-defense move. Is she really trying to teach Aurora to defend herself?

 

"She is wise."

 

Mulan's voice startles me and I sit up to look at the exotic warrior. The dark eyes are troubled and heavily conflicted, something I can sympathize with. Also sitting up, she regards the two women in the sunshine.

 

"Clearly, wiser than I."

 

We're both startled to see that Aurora has apparently been listening very closely and manages to clumsily deflect a careful charge from Emma's larger body. The girl beams and nearly dances with excitement at her accomplishment. Despite my annoyance at her and the entire fabric of reality in generally, I have to smile.

 

"Much wiser."

 

"Hey, I wouldn't have guessed it either," I have to say, not liking the bleakness in Mulan's tone. She's our best bet for survival right now, as I'm obviously out of the loop here. I need her head in the game. "Though, considering how out of her element poor Emma is, she probably is the best teacher."

 

Once more, laughter rings out through the clearing and Emma reaches out to adjust Aurora's raised fists. It's making me crazy that I cannot remember the younger princess from my past as an equal in rank and status. And here I thought I’d been so careful in my studies of the other kingdoms...

 

"I did not believe your tale," Mulan muses and I smile to myself. "In part, I am still unsure if I do."

 

"Smart move because the story sounds insane. Trust me, I know. Would you like more of it?"

 

After only a moment of hesitation a curt nod is all the permission I need to let loose.

 

As Aurora shows steady improvement with Emma's teachings, I unload my whole sordid past onto the silent Mulan with as few words as I can manage. It feels very freeing to talk it out, settling the events in my mind. It isn't as though I've had time to assimilate the most recent chapters!

 

Once I’ve talked myself out, I scrub roughly at the tears that wet my face and blur my eyes. Only then can I see Emma discretely watching me, her presence a balm to my soul.

 

"A powerful tale," Mulan muses, the first words she's spoken since I started spilling my guts. "When next we have a safe time such as this, I will return the gesture of trust. In the meantime..." With a come-hither gesture, she brings back the others and climbs to her feet. "It seems clear that none of us are able to sleep, so we may as well continue on. Where shall we journey to now, Snow White?"

 

Ignoring the oddity of a stranger saying my true name, I only hesitate in my answer because I don't like it, not because I don't have it. "We'll have to return to my father's lands. There must be remnants of Regina's magic there. Maybe there is something there that can help us return. But we'll need supplies and better clothing for travel. I don't know about anyone else, but I feel ridiculous and exposed in these clothes."

 

Emma and Aurora nod, and I’m gratified to see humor dancing at the corner of Mulan's dour expression. As we gather our few things, I hear her speak to the young princess. "You did well. There is much that we can all teach you."

 

As we head for the trees, I bump shoulders with my grown daughter and share a warm smile. "I knew you were a chip off the old block."

 

How I love her warm smile.


End file.
